Michael Obiora

Michael Obiora (pronounced OH-BEE-ORA) was born on 8 October 1986 in north-west London, England, to Nigerian-Igbo parents. As a six-year-old, he was determined to become an entertainer like his idol Michael Jackson, and his mother enrolled him in drama lessons. He describes having challenging teen years, as he was once badly injured, later expelled from secondary school before his GCSEs, and then his father died.

At the age of nine, Obiora became the youngest actor to have appeared in the children's television series Grange Hill; he played Max Abassi on the programme for five years.

Just before his 18th birthday, Obiora landed a role playing the part of Gunner Jackson Clarke, a soldier in ITV's eight-part series Bombshell. Shortly after filming that series, he started a seven-month run as one of the leads in the award-winning play Elmina's Kitchen, at the Garrick Theatre. He later had the lead role in the play Exclude Me, in an 11-week run at the Chelsea Theatre, and lead roles in the plays Fallout, at the Royal Court Theatre, Badnuff, at the Soho Theatre, and Headstone at the Arcola Theatre.

Obiora has had television roles in My Family, Judge John Deed, Misfits, Sea of Souls, Afterlife, and the acclaimed 2007 Doctor Who episode "Blink", He has also starred in Doctors, Powers, The Bill for five episodes as Nathan Morley, and Holby City. In 2009, he appeared in four episodes of EastEnders, as playboy footballer Ellis Prince.

Obiora gained attention as the openly gay receptionist Ben Trueman, in the main cast of the drama series Hotel Babylon (2006–2009). He played nurse Lloyd Asike for two seasons (2011–2013), on the long-running medical drama Casualty. He was part of international ensemble that formed the cast of the 2015 epic eleven-part crime thriller, Fortitude, filmed in Iceland. He then appeared in the 2016 film Hooten & the Lady, shot in South Africa.